Meeting with NGOs passed off positively

Thursday April 5, there was a meeting with the involved NGOs about the MSC certification of the Dutch brown shrimp. Until March 2009, the NGOs have played an important role in the MSC certification, but their role has become smaller after that period of time. Because there have been significant changes after March 2009, we’ve decided to discuss these changes with the NGOs. The essence of the meeting was to tell the NGOs what has changed and to explain to them why we have made those changes.

The meeting took place in Amersfoort at lunchroom De Onthaasting. We were expecting a high attendance, but unfortunately there had been some cancelations at the last moment. Therefore, only Foundation Wad (in Dutch: “Stichting Wad”), represented by Lenze Hofstee, and the World Wide Fund for Nature, respresented by Chris van Assen, were present on behalf of the NGOs. Besides the NGOs, Chris Meskens and Ralph Sanders were also present. They have managed the MSC certification process of the Suriname Seabob. Kees Lankester, Conny Loonstra and Mark Nijhof were present on behalf of the working group brown shrimp.

The meeting passed off positively in the sense that the changes that have been made were understood. Lenze Hofstee noticed that the fisheries sector had made a lot of progress and that the fisheries sector is working hard. Also Chris van Assen reacted positively, although she does think that it will be a close call whether the brown shrimp fishery will get MSC or not.